Torment
by oOTheGoodLifeOo
Summary: Sage can only remember what could have been, and hates herself for allowing Malachai to die. Malachai just thankful that Sage saved him from himself. Caught in the grip of her own fury and hatred toward herself; can Sage pull herself up after Malachai's death?


_**Torment**_

Part one of two~ Inspired by Hate Me by Blue October

_"I have to block out thoughts of you, so I don't lose my head._

_They crawl in like a cockroach leaving babies in my bed._

_Dropping little reels of tape, to remind me that I'm alone."_

Sage casted her Harlequin spheres to the decaying and crunching grass beneath her bare and cracked farmer tanned feet. It was pelting rain, lightning broke the surface of the darkly hued sky for just a brief moment. The thunder roared and shook the ground as it boomed. Sage withheld a disturbing bitterness in her eyes as she burned a hole into the ground where she glared hard with her fixated stare. The clearing; this hellious place was where it all started, where their friendship started.

~::~

The school bell had rung for recess, and as usual all of the children flooded outside. Sage lingered in the threshold of the door that led outside just enjoying the spring breeze that ghosted into the hallway before descending down the steps of the building. The warmth from the sun radiated against her pasty complexion as Sage gleefully walked toward her group of clustered friends, a merry bounce in her step.

She brisked past Craig Boardman and his posse of bullies. She took notice of the wicked smirk he cast her way making her spine tingle and shudder. However, she never did think of him in a foul way like the other kindergarden kids did. In fact, her own scars would conclude she knew just how precisely he must be feeling. That is if his home life was anything like her's was.

Bruises, cuts and cigarette marks littered her body, but she just covered them and hid away the remnants of an innocent girl that cried for help; but no one came. Her father told her if she didn't behave at school then he'd be worse. Better safe than sorry, so on the first day, she engraved a very false smile onto her worn and bleeding body and went to school 'happy' as can be. Anyone could tell her happiness was false if they just took a peek into her dull green eyes.

Frowning for a split second Sage shot Craig a warning glare; her features plastered with hatred and annoyance her friends couldn't see. "You aren't gonna fight her are you?" Richard's chestnut orbs bulged as Craig left his post upon the middle pole on the merry-go-round and towered over Sage. She held no fear within her; and that bothered him. All the kindergardeners feared him! He reared back an extraordinarily oversized creame toned hand for a five-year-old and prepared to smack the bajesus out of Sage; but Sage had beaten him to the strike and impaled him with her fist in the jaw, popping it out of place slightly and making Craig land with a 'thud' on the sandy playground.

With the wind knocked out of the little pest and tears rolling down his cheeks; Sage twirled on her heels and proudly strode to her friends, that merry bounce still present. "Hi!" Sage greeted sweetly as though she hadn't just kicked Craig's ass. She turned her head to peer at Richard, Edward and Clayton helping up their fallen 'leader'. Hunched over and clutching his gut, Craig managed to hold his head up high enough to give Sage a look that could kill; and Sage returned it evenly.

It would only make sense the school would ring the Green household exactly when she entered her hellhole dwelling. It obviousness was made present when her father smashed the phone onto the reciever and shattering it in the process. "SAGE JOSEPHINE GREEN!" her father's hoarse voice boomed and echoed throughout the house. Her mother, being a bystandard, allowed her prick of a husband to pass her by and after the fleeing and terrified child tearing up the staris.

"YOU UNGRATEFUL BITCH!" he spat catching Sage by her copper locks and flinging her down the stairs. A new bruise took form almost immediately where she caught herself with her upper right arm halfway down the steps. Blood splurt from her mouth and dripped onto the steps and painted her teeth a metallic red; her left arm was pulled out of socket and her left ankled was left sprained as new bruises coated and mixed with the old ones.

Tears blinded her vision as she began to slump down the staircase; coughing up blood. "I'm sorry daddy! Please don't!" Sage pleaded as her dad gripped her dirty white and bloodstained dress and hoisted her up, carrying her down the stairs and into his room. "No! Daddy, Please! Please no more! Don't hurt me!" Sage's sobs wracked her body hard; her body already preparing itself for the harsh treatment about to be bestowed upon her.

Her body instantly went numb as a wooden paddle with holes in it landed blows to just about anywhere it pleased. Her mother hung her head as she listened to her daughters agonizing screams from the doorway. The cigarette smoke made Sage gag. Her eyes were puffy and red from the tears shed, her voice hoarse from the screams of pain and pleads. To finish her punishment; her father put his cigarette out upon her neck and indulged in the stinch of his daughters singeing flesh that left a welt.

As soon as her father released her Sage bolted from the house and into the cornfield just across the street. She fumbled through the stalks until she made it to a clearing where she tripped over a dirt clot and remained in the bitter tasting soil and sobbed. Her body shook violently as her sobs reached a point where tears poured but her crying was silent. Snot and saliva mixed with her salty tears in the earthy ground. Her stomach churned with nausea, her head pounded with a powerful migraine and her heart bleed with pain.

She snapped her head up causing whiplash to make her head pound harder. She picked up the noise of rustling cornstalks and knew she wasn't alone. Picking up a stone she used the sleeve of her dress to wipe away her snot and saliva residue as she sat up and began to scan area. She relaxed slightly but not entirely when Craig exited out of the corn and into the clearing. "Boardman!" Sage venomously spat, the hatred igniting more so. A look of shock was locked his face. Sure he picked on her, but he didn't HATE her. "You did this to me!" Sage pointed blame between sobs.

Sage couldn't prepare herself for the following chain of events. Her Harlequin orbs dialated momentarily as Craig Boardman enveloped her in a deep and affectionate hug; something she hadn't felt in so long. "It's okay Sage, I know your pain." Craig tilted her back a little so as he could show her his marks as well. He wiped the dried blood from her lips and chin, then brushing a piece of her copper and dirt adorned hair behind her hair.

"You don't have to be strong. I'll protect you." Craig locked eyes with Sage and that's all it took. That one act of security was all Sage longed for. Dropping the rock she hung so dearly to she instead clung to Craig as he let her stain his white and blue stripped shirt with her tears. Three long years of torment led her to this; and she was finally able to feel slightly free, but just how would this change them?

~::~

Sage's copper hair was soaked by this point and clung to her face. "Why, Malachai?!" Sage screamed to the heavens as fresh tears brimmed her thin, high, and bruised cheekbones. She had changed drastically since that day; it seems like only yesterday they had become friends, and now she only had that memory to accompany the lonely pit consuming her sanity.

_Well, this was going to be just a two part thing, but I'm gonna make it into a story instead. I want to thank xxTheAwesome01xx for helpin' me with this one xDD You should go check out her stories! In Our Darkest Days and Memories of Malachai! They are totally awesome! Review and let me know what you think! :)_


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